Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s medical and nursing undergraduate student`s satisfaction towards rural community outreach health promotion posting in Ranau, Sabah

• Main Authors: Segaran Ramodran, Billy Bryan Jafrin, Mellonna Ignatia Jeffrey Liew, Nurul MadihahMohd Raeh, Juecella Joyce Jalius
• Format: Proceedings
• Language: English; English
• Published: Malaysian Journal of Medicine and Health Sciences 2020
• Subjects: RT Nursing
• Online Access: https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27092/1/Universiti%20Malaysia%20Sabah%E2%80%99s%20medical%20and%20nursing%20undergraduate%20student%60s%20satisfaction%20towards%20rural%20community%20outreach%20health%20promotion%20posting%20in%20Ranau%2C%20Sabah.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27092/2/Universiti%20Malaysia%20Sabah%E2%80%99s%20medical%20and%20nursing%20undergraduate%20student%60s%20satisfaction%20towards%20rural%20community%20outreach%20health%20promotion%20posting%20in%20Ranau%2C%20Sabah1.pdf; https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/27092/; https://medic.upm.edu.my/upload/dokumen/20200714085150Complete_document_N.pdf

EC1773 is a community outreach program conducted annually by Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). It serves as a platform for nursing and medical students to collaborate hands-on health promotion for rural communities. As of date, there has been no empirical study to gauge student`s post-program satisfaction. This study aims to evaluate satisfaction among students who have undergone the UMS-led community out-reach program and identify gaps for improvement. Methods: The study entailed a cross-sectional design involving 165 (N) nursing(n=65) and medical students (n=100) who had completed a 10-day rural outreach program. Ethical approval was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of UMS as well-informed consent from respondents. A 25- item questionnaire requir¬ing Likert-scale responsewas used to evaluatethe level of satisfaction across 5 sub-categories namely; pre-departure preparation & briefing;onsite facilities and logistics; teamwork; community participation and learning achievements. Results: Among 165 nursing -medical students in the study, 88% (n=146) were satisfied and 12% (n=19) were dis¬satisfied with the UMS-led outreach program. Sub-category items rated as satisfactory were community participation 96% and learning achievements 91%. Poor satisfaction highlighted by respondents regarding the out-reach program were inadequacy of facilities and poor logistics 62% and quality of pre-departure preparation and briefing 66%. Nursing students reported significantly higher dissatisfaction (p=0.04) regarding teamwork and adequacy of onsite facilities and logistics. Conclusion: Findings from this study infers that student’s post-evaluation towards the UMS-led outreach is generally satisfactory but has specific shortfalls that need to be addressed.